David L. Watson wrote an article called Structure vs. Strategy towards the end of last year. I think it really applies to thoughts about reaching the Online Generation today.
In most church planting the focus has been on the structure of the church (the tool) that is doing the planting, not the structure of the community where the planting is to be done. If one limits him or herself to the structure of their sending organization or church in order to start new churches, then the process is doomed to fail most of the time. It would be like using tanks to take wetlands or mountains. One does not choose battles based on the structure. One chooses the tools of battle based on the structure of the objective. Structure determines strategy. If one only has a single strategy, then success will be limited. I think this is the reason most church planting efforts fail. The army doing the work is focused on the structure of their tool instead of the structure of their objective.
An urban society is going to require different strategies than a rural society. The structures are different. A tribal society is going to require a different strategy from a nomadic society. The structures are different. Can one start a church using a building if the society is nomadic? Can one use democratic church polity if the society is tribal? Only by changing the structure of the society, which is a much more complicated and difficult task than starting an appropriately structured church, can one move people from their home structure to the structure of the church planter.
You can read the rest of the article here.
The internet is not one giant community. It is made of of millions, if not billions, of communities. We have to adapt our strategy to plant the Gospel within each community online. I want nothing less than to see the Gospel planted within every community that exists online. That means we are going to have to be highly flexible, focus on multiplication principles, and use multiple strategies to engage the lost members of the online generation.
